An Inquiry into the Military History of Religion (with some Fiction…)

The Diaspora from Treefort Begins

Since Treefort Games closed, its former customers have begun searching for another public area to play.

My girlfriend asked me, “Why don’t you all just play in your own homes?”

Most of us can. Many of us do already. The problem comes with meeting new gamers–be it wargaming or roleplaying. Not every gamer you meet you’ll want inside your own home.

The Favorite Local Gaming store is neutral ground. And often times the gaming store is a nice half-way point to meet, especially in the Atlanta area where prospective gamers can be a half-hour or more in drive-time apart.

Yesterday I visited Giga-Bytes Cafe in Marietta, Georgia. I’d been there a long time ago. But since it’s pretty much on the opposite end of town, I saw no need to go there if could find gamers closer to where I live. It’s at least a 40 minute drive from where I live, and if the traffic is bad–which traffic can often get bad in Atlanta–the trip can take over an hour.

It turns out friends and acquaintances from Treefort were running their annual D-Day invasion game there. So I hung out for a bit.

There’s also a strong Kings of War community up there. So it appears Giga-Bytes will be a more frequent destination for the near future.

Giga-Bytes is a nice store. They serve food there, though I’ve yet to try any.

The more important thing is that it has lots of tabletop space–which is another reason why gaming stores are important:

Gamers have a tendency to “spread out,” take up space.

Also, if you’re going to meet new gamers, or build a community of gamers, there’s has to be a space for multiple groups to meet.

Treefort was a loss to the gaming community because it had lots of space to spread out.

xThe wargamers, collectable card gamers, the roleplayers, and even boardgamers all had their own area at Treefort. It was a strange sort of utopia.